We are a group of men in Marin County, California that meets monthly to discuss books that challenge us...to leave our day jobs behind, to find meaning and enjoyment in literature, and to know each other better in the process.

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caveat lector

Criteria*

1. Under 500 pages2. Author has won/been nominated for a major literary award (or any award)3. No books by women about women (the Eat, Pray, Love rule)*For one day out of 30; on the other 29, we're unconstrained

Jan 1, 2015

With apologies, here’s a belated summary of our
meetings in 2014, following our evening imbibing Joy Juice with Dan:

In March, I hosted and had the highest hopes
for my favorite novel of 2012, Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars. This first-person
narrative chronicles the post-apocalyptic angst of a pilot (Hig) holed up in a
rural Colorado airport with an ornery fellow survivor (Bangley), an aging dog
(Jasper), and miles of open (and threatening) prairie around the airfield.I thought Hig’s obsession with and eventual exploration
of the world beyond would capture everyone’s imagination.It did, but with reservations about Heller's
plot contrivances. At rating time, we
gave the novel a modestly positive 7.1.At least the Filipino food from Ma’s was a hit.

Glenn hosted us in April, with Rory graciously
providing the venue.The dark interior
of the McNear House dining room was the perfect atmosphere as we ate stew and
discussed Miller’s Cold War classic, A
Canticle for Leibowitz.Most were
glad they read (for the second month in a row) this post-apocalyptic novel, but some quibbled
with the narrative’s intentionally slow progression (yes, it took centuries before
those monks figured out the meaning of a grocery list).The church/state tension and the hostility towards science were fascinating, as was society's fate in repeating
its cycle of self-destruction (barring a technological, not spiritual salvation at the novel's end). Were it not for the
novel’s plodding pace, we might have rated it higher than 6.7.

In May, Terry had us reading another period
piece, this time from the French Indo-Chinese conflict in the 1950’s.Graham Greene’s The Quiet American generated ambivalence, as we
struggled with the opium-laced duplicity of the English correspondent, Fowler,
and the implausibly naïve American diplomat, Pyle.The book had no likeable characters and
instead was an interesting, if disturbing harbinger of the war that followed a
decade later in Vietnam.Following Stan’s
loud protestations that Greene’s novel was “not a war book” (no one said it
was, Stan), we gave it a thumbs-up rating of 7.1.

Stan hosted us for a twofer in June.Our chosen book, Saramago’s Cain, was (thanks to the sudden generosity
of Random House) twinned with a pre-publication edition of Alan Furst’s latest
novel, Midnight in Europe.Those of us who read Furst’s pre-WWII spy
thriller were disappointed.Thin, poorly
plotted, and with unfinished characters.Enough said.Cain, on the other hand, was a provocative read for even those whose
recollection of the Old Testament had grown dim.From the Garden of Eden through Cain’s lengthy exile, Saramago's final novel
moved along with an almost mystical hum.Impressed but unpersuaded that Saramago had achieved anything close to
the standard he set with Blindness,
we gave him the benefit of the doubt with a 6.5 rating.

Following Doug’s summer party in July (thanks
again, Doug), we met at Dean’s in August to chew over Reza Aslan’s critically-acclaimed
Zealot.It was mere coincidence that Zealot picked up where Cain left off.And while no one was pining at the end of the
meal for yet another story about the Bible, we were all quite taken by the extraordinary
research Aslan poured into this latest account of the story of Jesus of
Nazareth.His thesis that Jesus was less
a proselytizer than an overt revolutionary provided plenty of conversation to accompany our meal and as a story was impressive enough to earn a 7.6.And about that meal,
Dean did a superb job replicating the cuisine of Israel while operating with a
balky hip.(Glad the bionic version is
working well, Dean.)

In September, Larry persuaded us to read Steven
Kotler’s controversial work examining the state of “flow.”In The
Rise of Superman, Kotler posits that today’s generation of extreme athletes
is achieving extraordinary success by hacking (his term) flow and that this
state of being holds promise for all manner of human endeavor.As a group, we weren’t buying it.And I mean that literally, as some of us felt
that Kotler’s book-length exposition was designed in part to sell his accompanying
workshops, seminars, and the like.While
some felt that a state of flow was achievable (Stan and Dan, in particular), no
one was willing to defend Kotler’s view that flow is the sine qua non of ultimate
performance.The anecdotes were interesting,
but the hyperbole relegated The Rise of Superman
to a subpar 5.7.

With the arrival of rain and colder weather, we
convened at Peter’s to mull over Dan Brown’s best-selling account of the University
of Washington’s 1936 Olympic rowing team, The
Boys in the Boat.To a man, we
enjoyed the core story with its (obvious) themes of teamwork, redemption,
sacrifice, honor, and the like. But, led by Larry, we panned Brown for larding
up a compelling story with extraneous detail and trying too hard to eulogize an
entire generation (yes, THAT generation).We also decried the formula: part Laura Hillenbrand, part Erik Larson,
Brown doesn’t quite do justice to either. George shared his early rowing experience
in Pocock shells and that rowing gradually disappeared from the national consciousness
not only because of the rise of televised sports, but also due to the taint
of too many betting scandals. Notwithstanding our quibbles, The Boys in the Boat generated a healthy
7.1 in our final rating.

Roy hosted us—well most of us—in December to
share reactions to Gary Shteyngart’s Super
Sad True Love Story.Ok, let’s cut
to the chase. Since I didn’t attend, I can’t do justice to the
conversation.But I did collect the
votes afterwards and was surprised that Shteyngart, whose peculiar brand of
Russian émigré satire isn’t for everyone, managed to pull down a 7.5.Either Roy’s distillations were especially powerful
or I misjudged my fellow MBCers.Regardless, kudos to Roy for a fine meal (according to my sources), and
that’s a wrap for 2014!